Lesson 4.3.9.2

4.3.9.2 Biological explanations of offending Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

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Lesson 4.3.9.2, Biological explanations of offending: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which genetic factor has been linked to offending through its role in monoamine breakdown?

    • The MAOA gene, particularly the low-activity variant
    • The FTO gene, linked to body weight
    • The BRCA1 gene, linked to breast cancer risk
    • The HTT gene, linked to Huntington's disease

  2. What did Mednick and colleagues' adoption research suggest about offending?

    • Adopted children offended only when raised by parents with a criminal background, so their adoptive home was the sole cause of crime
    • Adopted children were never affected by their biological parents' criminal history at any stage of their development into adulthood
    • Adopted children whose biological parents had criminal records were more likely to offend, suggesting a heritable element
    • Adopted children showed no difference in offending from non-adopted children in any study, so family history was shown to be irrelevant

  3. What is a concordance rate in twin studies of offending?

    • The likelihood that both twins show the behaviour, given that one twin does
    • The number of twins who are born with the same birth weight in each pair
    • The number of genes that differ between twins in a pair
    • The level of cortisol measured in each twin at the same time of day

  4. Which neural area is often linked to impulse control and moral decision-making, and found to be altered in some offenders?

    • The medulla oblongata
    • The prefrontal cortex
    • The occipital cortex
    • The cerebellum

  5. Which neural explanation involves the amygdala in offending?

    • The amygdala may respond differently to threat or emotion in some offenders, affecting aggressive reactions
    • The amygdala controls the production of cortisol in the adrenal cortex at all times, so it has a fixed link to every aggressive act a person commits
    • The amygdala controls only the movement of the fingers during fine motor tasks, so it cannot have any influence on emotional responses
    • The amygdala has no role in emotion and so cannot influence any behaviour, which means it is irrelevant to explanations of offending

  6. Which evaluation point applies to biological explanations of offending?

    • They have been shown to predict every crime that occurs in any society
    • They fully explain all offending without any need for social or situational factors
    • They have no ethical implications, so they can be applied without any consideration of individuals
    • They may be used to excuse behaviour, and they should be combined with social and situational factors

  7. Which finding would most support a neural explanation of offending?

    • Offenders show identical prefrontal activity to non-offenders in every task studied
    • Offenders show reduced prefrontal activity during tasks requiring impulse control
    • Offenders show no measurable brain differences in any imaging study conducted so far
    • Offenders show increased activity in the cerebellum only during sleep

  8. A researcher finds higher concordance for offending in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins. Which conclusion is most appropriate?

    • Offending is entirely environmental, and genetic factors have no influence at all on whether a person comes to offend over their life
    • Genetic factors may contribute to offending, but concordance below 100% suggests environmental factors also matter
    • Offending has no relationship with twin status, since the difference in concordance between the two types of twin is simply a coincidence
    • Offending is entirely genetic, and no environmental factor has any influence at all on whether a person comes to offend over their life

  9. Which evaluation point applies to twin and adoption studies of offending?

    • The studies are only conducted with animals and have no relevance to humans
    • The samples may not be representative, and environmental influences can be difficult to separate from genetic ones
    • The studies are always perfectly controlled, so environment and genes can be fully separated
    • The studies have shown that offending is unaffected by any factor, genetic or environmental

  10. A neuroscientist suggests that an offender's violence is linked to damage in a region involved in self-control. Which region is most relevant?

    • The frontal lobes
    • The spinal cord
    • The hippocampus only
    • The occipital lobes

  11. Which statement best describes the role of genetics in offending?

    • Genes determine offending completely, and environment has no influence on any individual
    • Genes have no link to offending because all offenders have identical genetic profiles
    • Genes only affect offending through their effect on hair and skin colour
    • Genes may influence predispositions, such as impulsivity, that interact with environment to affect offending

  12. Which combination best describes biological explanations of offending?

    • Genetic explanations and neural explanations focusing on brain structures such as the prefrontal cortex and amygdala
    • Ethological explanations and cognitive explanations based on fixed action patterns and distorted thinking styles seen in offenders
    • Typology explanations and data-driven explanations based on crime scene evidence, offender profiles and statistical links between offences
    • Social learning explanations and behavioural explanations based on reinforcement and punishment given in childhood and adolescence

  13. A study finds that offenders with a particular genetic variant show more violence only when they experienced childhood abuse. Which explanation is most consistent?

    • A purely environmental explanation, where the genetic variant has no effect on any behaviour
    • A gene-environment interaction, where a genetic risk becomes expressed mainly under adverse conditions
    • A typology explanation, where the abuse determines the offender's organised style
    • A purely genetic explanation, where the abuse has no effect on the offending at all

  14. Which neural structure is linked to processing threat and emotion, and may influence aggressive offending?

    • The hippocampus only in memory consolidation
    • The cerebellum in fine motor coordination
    • The thalamus in relaying visual information
    • The amygdala

  15. Why might a biological explanation of offending be seen as ethically controversial?

    • It has been shown to remove the need for any police investigation of crime, since the offender's biology can identify them without evidence
    • It may suggest offenders have little control over their behaviour, which can affect judgements of responsibility
    • It requires that all offenders be given identical sentences regardless of their history, which removes any role for judges in sentencing
    • It proves that offenders can never be treated or rehabilitated under any circumstances, so there is no point in offering programmes to them

  16. A researcher suggests that offenders' brain scans show differences in the prefrontal cortex. Which limitation is most important?

    • The scans prove that all prefrontal differences are inherited and cannot change at any time
    • The scans show that offending is caused by the prefrontal cortex in every case without exception
    • The scans have shown that offenders and non-offenders have identical brain structure
    • The scans are correlational and do not show whether the differences cause offending or result from it

  17. Which of the following best summarises the biological explanations of offending?

    • Genetic and neural factors may predispose individuals to offending, with environment influencing whether this is expressed
    • Offending is caused entirely by cognitive distortions that are learned in childhood, and the brain and genes play no role in the process
    • Offending is caused entirely by hormonal changes that occur in adulthood alone, and childhood experience has no effect on behaviour
    • Offending is caused entirely by the environment, with no biological predisposition at any stage of development, and the brain plays no role

  18. Why are twin studies of offending more informative than comparing unrelated people?

    • Identical twins share all their genes, so differences in concordance can reveal the contribution of genes
    • Twins never show offending, so they are used only as a control group in each research design
    • Twins are always raised apart, so comparison with unrelated people is not needed in any study
    • Identical twins share all their environments, so differences between them reveal the role of genes

  19. A study finds that adopted children's offending correlates more with their biological parents' offending than with their adoptive parents'. Which conclusion does this best support?

    • An environmental contribution alone, since adoptive parents are the only influence on the child's behaviour
    • A cognitive distortion, since the child learns to blame the adoptive parents for every failure
    • An ethological explanation, since the child shows fixed action patterns triggered by the adoptive home
    • A genetic contribution to offending, since the biological parents' record predicts the child's outcome

  20. Which measure would a neuroscientist use to compare brain activity between offenders and non-offenders during a self-control task?

    • A survey of the participants' moral reasoning based on a single hypothetical dilemma
    • Functional brain imaging of activity during the task
    • A questionnaire about the participants' childhood experiences of parental discipline
    • A review of the participants' criminal records held by the police national database

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